Adam Bender

Communications companies said they’re responding to power outages and network damage in the wake of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night. Emergency 911 systems appeared largely to withstand the onslaught, as they did with Hurricane Helene two weeks earlier (see 2409270058). AccuWeather said the total damage and economic loss from Milton will likely be between $160 billion and $180 billion, making it "one of the most damaging and impactful storms in Florida history."

Attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia sued TikTok in 14 separate courts Tuesday. The 10 Democratic and four Republican AGs said TikTok violated state and D.C. consumer protection laws when it allegedly addicted young users and collected their data without consent. TikTok disputed the claims as “inaccurate and misleading.” Separately, more than 20 states asked that a court force TikTok to cooperate with their investigation.

The Arizona Corporation Commission should pull back regulations on Frontier Communications while eliminating Arizona Universal Service Fund (AUSF) subsidies for the wireline carrier, Frontier and commission staff argued at a livestreamed hearing Monday. Meanwhile in Connecticut, Frontier pushed back against a proposed $2.48 million fine for missing certain state service-quality metrics.

Rules for implementation of Florida’s social media age-verification law state that a "commercial entity willfully disregards a person’s age if it, based on the facts or circumstance readily available to the respondent, should reasonably have been aroused to question whether the person was a child and thereafter failed to perform reasonable age verification.” The Florida attorney general’s office on Monday sent us rules that it adopted for implementing the state law (HB-3) taking effect Jan. 1. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the law in March after lawmakers approved a revised proposal that includes parental consent after he vetoed a proposal banning kids younger than 16 from having social media accounts (see 2403080063). “Willful disregard of a person’s age constitutes a knowing or intentional violation” of Florida’s social media age-restriction law, the AG rules say. “The department will not find willful disregard of a person’s age has occurred if a commercial entity establishes it has utilized a reasonable age verification method with respect to all who access the social media platform and that reasonable age verification method determined that the person was not a child unless the social media platform later obtained actual knowledge that the person was a minor and failed to act.” The rules define a “commercially reasonable method of age verification” as “a method of verifying age that is regularly used by the government or businesses for the purpose of age and identity verification." Meanwhile, “reasonable parental verification” is defined as “any method that is reasonably calculated at determining that a person is a parent of a child that also verifies the age and identity of that parent by commercially reasonable means.” That might include asking the child for a parent’s name, address, phone number and email address, contacting that person and “confirming that the parent is the child’s parent by obtaining documents or information sufficient to evidence that relationship,” and “utilizing any commercially reasonable method regularly used by the government or business to verify that parent’s identity and age.” Under another rule, social media platforms must permanently delete all personal information related to an account within 14 business days of the account's termination.

Texas sued TikTok for allegedly violating the state’s new social media parental-consent law. The social media platform shared minors’ personal data in violation of the state’s social media age-restriction law (HB-18), Texas said in a complaint at the Texas District Court in Galveston County (case 24-CV-1763). “Texas law requires social media companies to take steps to protect kids online and requires them to provide parents with tools to do the same,” said Ken Paxton (R), the Texas attorney general. The complaint claims that TikTok failed to provide those tools and develop a commercially reasonable parental-consent mechanism. In addition, Texas alleged that TikTok shared and disclosed minors’ personal identifying information without parental consent. Paxton sought injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. A TikTok spokesperson said, “We strongly disagree with these allegations and, in fact, we offer robust safeguards for teens and parents, including Family Pairing, all of which are publicly available. We stand by the protections we provide families.” The lawsuit comes roughly one month after the U.S. District Court of Western Texas granted a preliminary injunction (see 2409030039) against the 2024 law in a case that tech industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) brought. However, TikTok is not a member of NetChoice or CCIA. “The injunction granted by Judge [Robert] Pitman of the Western District of Texas bars the state from enforcing particular provisions of [HB-18] only as to CCIA, NetChoice, and their members,” said Stephanie Joyce, CCIA chief of staff.

NTIA hopes it will wrap up approvals of states' and territories’ initial plans for the broadband, equity access and deployment (BEAD) program by month’s end, Administrator Alan Davidson said Friday. At a virtual press conference, Davidson joined White House and California officials in announcing approval of volume two of California’s initial plan. The action greenlights California access to its $1.8 billion BEAD allocation, NTIA said. Just five states still need volume-two approval, an NTIA dashboard showed Friday. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Ohio and Texas. Timing of the remaining approvals depends “a little bit on the remaining states that are out there,” said Davidson. “We’re really … at the endpoint now and this is all very much still exactly on track and on time.” Davidson praised California for showing a commitment to investing in resiliency in its BEAD plan. Also, he said California has done well to weave together various federal and state funds in its effort to connect everyone. Meanwhile, National Economic Council Deputy Director Jon Donenberg praised the California plan’s emphasis on affordability. California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds said the BEAD funding is “vital” for bridging the digital divide. “We will maximize these funds,” said Reynolds. "Projects will be deployed in a timely fashion."

Possible harm to the public interest outweighs the presence of competition in a Connecticut market where Verizon seeks deregulation, the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) said in a proposed decision released Thursday. PURA plans to vote Oct. 16 on the draft, which would deny Verizon’s petition to reclassify its remaining services as competitive and retire the company’s alternative form of regulation plan.

California should shed carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations in many parts of the state, carriers that are subject to those regulations said in comments posted this week at the California Public Utilities Commission. Just don’t extend the rules to other kinds of companies, warned a cable broadband association, whose members are free from such regulations. However, consumer advocates said COLR obligations remain necessary and should be updated to include high-speed internet service, not just voice.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is considering regulating telecommunications companies with age-verification rules that normally are reserved for social media platforms.

Popping in unannounced Saturday night, D.C. Council Public Safety Chair Brooke Pinto (D) found “unacceptable” and “extremely dangerous” levels of staffing at the District of Columbia’s 911 center, the councilmember said during a livestreamed hearing Monday. Multiple members and witnesses voiced little if any confidence in the Office of Unified Communications or Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) fixing reported problems, which include blown addresses and delays answering calls and sending help.